Luton Town 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Rob Edwards 'more optimistic' after draw
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Luton 1-1 Wolves: Rob Edwards 'proud' of Hatters after earning first Premier League point
When you have spent the opening weeks of a Premier League debut season having your flaws exposed and fending off tough pundit analysis, it must be immensely satisfying to have something to hit back with, something tangible to respond to some of the more critical assessments of Luton Town.
To his credit, Hatters manager Rob Edwards kept his emotions in check after the club's 1-1 draw against Wolves at Kenilworth Road.
Later, in the written post-match briefing, he even admitted he understood those who are dismissing Luton as Premier League lightweights.
But a few minutes before, to BBC's Match of the Day, he let his guard drop just a little.
"Everyone can stop talking about Luton being the only team not to have anything," he said. "We've got that off our backs."
It was inevitable Luton would get their first top flight point since 1992, just as one day they will win. With fellow strugglers Everton and Burnley to come in their next two games, the club will hope it is soon.
But in a sense, that is not the point.
For no matter how this season pans out for Luton, there is a bigger picture that needs to be analysed before judgement can be delivered.
Luton will never accept losing
Speak to people at the club and it is clear losing is not something they are meekly accepting.
"Despise" was a word used more than once. The more often Luton lose, the more the feeling of hate of those awful weekends grows, it was stressed. Losing, at Kenilworth Road, will "never be normal" apparently.
Yet there are some basic truths that have to be taken into account.
When the club last published financial results, in March 2023, its wage bill was £17.8m, slightly more than the turnover of £17.66m. Matchday and commercial income combined was £7.2m.
To put that into context, Luton's weekly wage bill was £342,000, which, give or take a few thousand, is about what the elite Premier League players earn on their own.
Manchester United will generate more income from their pre-season tour than Luton did in 2021-22 once TV payments are discounted.
And against that backdrop, Luton need to pay for their proposed 19,500-capacity new stadium at Power Court which, to make the site safe and then build it, will cost well in excess of £100m, or, roughly, a season's TV money in the Premier League.
Those charged with running the club are clearly treading a delicate line.
Carlton Morris secured Luton's first point of the season when he sent Jose Sa the wrong way from the penalty spot
They deny absolutely relegation is being accepted. They have built what they believe to be a competitive squad - and it is days like this - coming from behind against 10-man Wolves - that prove it.
But equally they have to keep the club moving forward, not just positionally, but in terms of facilities.
Kenilworth Road may be quaint. It may be old school and a reminder of what football used to be. But in terms of the modern world, it is not fit for purpose.
League Two Notts County got an attendance of within 250 of the official figure of 10,893 announced for Wolves' visit.
This is a club that found itself in the National League following what, evidently, some fans regard as the "betrayal of the FA" given that is what it says on the banner hung in the corner of the Park Road Stand. It refers to the points deductions, external that led to their relegation out of the Football League in 2009.
They have not got where they are by overspending massively without an eye on what the future looks like.
That is why the Luton story cannot be told purely in terms of whether Edwards' team wins or loses each weekend.
'We probably shouldn't be here'
"I don't care," said Edwards, when asked by the written press if the manner of his side's performance against Wolves was the perfect riposte to Luton's critics. "We are not doing it to prove anything to anyone.
"I would probably think the same, if I am looking from the outside and don't know much about Luton. We were a small club in the Championship and we got promoted so we are going to be a small club in the Premier League. I get it. I understand it.
"We are going up against mammoths, giant clubs. We probably shouldn't be here.
"[The Premier League] is like a different sport. The quality, the decision making, the speed things happen, the execution. It is hard to comprehend.
"A lot of people will write us off but that's fine, let everyone talk. I believe in the group of players. I believe in the football club and the plan and how we try and do things.
"We are allowed to learn and I am pleased with the progress we are making.
"I am more optimistic after today."
